TIFTON, Ga.  — The year is 2016, the Irwin County Indians are facing the Charlton County Indians and the situation could have easily taken place in 2015.

“It’s the same thing as last year,” said Irwin head coach Buddy Nobles. The teams will meet at 7:30 p.m. in Ocilla Friday.

Charlton’s Indians are 1-1 in Region 2-A, having beaten Atkinson County and being defeated by Turner County. They have had a game cancelled because of weather in both years.

Hopefully for Nobles and Irwin (2-3, also 1-1 in region), the similarities end there. A year ago, Charlton rebounded to give Irwin its only region loss of the season. The loss did not stop Irwin, though, as they went on to their second straight Class A (public) state championship game.

Charlton has had its similarities between seasons, but there have been some differences. The Atkinson win is their only, with Brantley County and Savannah Christian also handing them losses. The start is said to be their worst since 1985, but that number is a bit deceiving, as Nobles said Charlton has been a hard luck team. No team has defeated them by more than 11 points — the Turner game ended 39-31 — and their offense seems as healthy as ever.

“They do a good job,” he said. The visiting Indians run a spread offense, he said, a change for this year, but something they have run in the past as Coach Rich McWhorter’s offense constantly change to fit their personnel.

“Right now they’re in spread,” said Nobles. “We’ll see if we can figure it out early.”

The spread is run by quarterback A.J. Bell, a 6’3” junior he described as a “big ol’ young’un.” In contrast, his main target is the 5’9” heavily recruited Raykwon Anderson. If Anderson and Bell are not enough, Eric Daniels is posting 88 rushing yards per game and just over one touchdown.

With a defense he said flew to the ball against Telfair, they are expected to be bolstered even further by the returns of D.J. Martin and Nathan Tucker, who both missed last week.

Irwin solved a three-game spiral last Friday with a 52-26 thumping of Telfair County. Nobles credits the figure to “three great days of practice” and that they “cut down on a ton of mental mistakes.”

The Indians spent much time in Telfair’s secondary. Jay Ashley ran for a 78-yard touchdown. Three more, he said, were called back. Cartavion Benyard caught a 43-yard score from Will Stephens. Zaire Andrews had a 52-yard touchdown.

“I feel like we threw the ball well, we ran the ball well,” said Nobles.

In between the regulars putting up their usual numbers, the Indians found time for freshman back Eric Anderson to run for a touchdown. They have also gotten some good play from sophomore Davion Pollard. Pollard has spent time as a running back, but lately he has been getting more snaps at linebacker. Nobles said the staff had been working to include as many of the younger players as possible.

After Charlton, the Indians will continue their trend of following up with Turner County’s opponents. Turner played Telfair a week before Irwin did. The same will happen with Charlton and next week the opponent will be Lanier County. Lanier, 1-4, has a region victory over Wilcox County to their credit.